Cisco at a Glance by the 15th Census

: first sheet of 1930 Census

The US Censuses are disclosed 72 years after they are taken. The 15th Census was released in 2002.

As for Cisco, it was enumerated by railroad agent Harold Ethelbert Wiggle (1900−1941) and town electrician Louis Elsa Cato (1889−1972) between April 4 and 26, 1930. It lists 193 persons in 45+2 dwellings (+2 caused by disorders of Census “number of dwelling house in order of visitation”).


84 persons in 24+2 dwellings including three tents are enumerated outside the Cisco townsite.

Northernmost of the Enumeration District (E.D.) 10-5, the Greater Cisco Field of gas and oil spreads in the northern half of the Cisco Desert. Several companies have been digging wells in the area since its discovery in 1923. 1930 Census enumerates several well workers in the area.

Gas well laborer Hermon E.White (1889−1963), his wife, his daughter, his six sons, and a boarder who is a miner, gas well laborer Richard Alexander Speaks (1908−1957), his wife, his three sons, and his daughter, gas well laborer Walter Raymond Oglesby (1902−1988), his wife, his three sons, and his daughter, gas well laborer Kenneth lawrence Towsley (1901−1993), his wife, and his three sons, and gas well laborer William Russell Payne (1898−1964) reside in each rented home(“number of dwelling house in order of visitation” 1, 2, 3, 7, 11). Truck driver Guy A. Miller (1889−1948), his wife, and his daughter reside in a rented home(3.5).

Within the Greater Cisco Field, farmer Hans Joseph Erickson (1874−1949) and his wife, who are one of the first settlers of Danish Flats, reside in his own home(28). Farmer Herman C. Rowe (1878−?) also resides in his own home(27) at this area.

Sheepherders and cattle stockmen are contesting over the grazing lands in the Book Mountains/Cliffs ranges north of the gas & oil field.
sheepherder Claude Raimes Blanchard (1876−1938), Rufo Eisogvirre (1900−?), and Joe Zubizarrita (1891−1978) reside in each tent(4, 5, 6), and sheepherder Frank Zabla (1895−?) reside in a rented home(10).
Turner Ranch ranch hand Eugenia Turner Jones (1868−1943), her son, her daughter, her son-in-law, and well-known black cowboy Charles Glass (1878−1937) as a boarder reside in Jone's home(9). Another Turner Ranch ranch hand Byron Theodore Smith (1904−1989) and his wife reside in a rented home(29). Ranch proprietor Albert James Turner (1886−1946) resides in his own home(26).


Easternmost of this E.D. along the Colorado River and the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad locates the community of Westwater. Several farmers reside there. Stockmen Ira Dominic Weimer (1895−1985), and his wife, Edgar Earnest Larsen (1907−1970), his wife, his daughter, his son, and his father, and Raymond Lester McBeth (1898−1981) and his wife reside in each home(8, 12, 13). Sheepherder Visnta Rosas (1900−?), and two boarders who are sheep camp laborers reside in a rented home(16). And farmer Awltmer Leslie Tomlinson (1880−1941), his wife, his three sons, and his six daughters reside in a rented home(14).


At the east of the Cisco townsite along the Colorado River aka Cisco Landing reside several farmer families and a pumper family. Farmer Charles Ulric Hallett (1881−1942), his brother who is a pumper, and his mother reside in a home(22A), farm laborer John W. Wadoll (1878−?) resides in a rented home(21), farmer Emery Knowles (1870−1952), his wife, his son, and his daughter, farmer Robert Lafayette Armstrong (1888−1957), his wife, and his three sons, farmer Alfred W. Morse (1859−1931), and farmer Walter Lee Wood (1872−1948), his wife, his three sons, his two daughters, and a boarder who is a farm laborer reside in each home(22, 23, 24, 25).


109 persons in 21 dwellings are enumerated within the Cisco townsite.

Easternmost of the townsite, garage(9) proprietor William Boston Capansky (1887−1951), his wife, and his son reside in his own home.

Cisco Hotel(5) manager Frances Isabelle Kruckenberg (1880−1960), her three sons, her two daughters, and her daughter-in-law, servant, servant's wife, pool hall proprietor Patrick Franklin Dyer (1861−1936), and four civil engineers reside in the hotel.
Cisco Hotel co-proprietor Sireno H. Puyales (1884−1957), cook, and two railroad section hands and a farm laborer as boarders reside in a rented home(15).
Rancher/Cisco Hotel co-proprietor John Alonzo Johnston (1881−1969), his wife, his son, and his daughter-in-law reside in a rented home(14).

Cisco Mercantile manager Ebert Kling (1878−1948), his wife, and his mother, clerk Walter Thomas Thirsk (1887−1933), his wife, his daughter, and his nephew reside in each rented home(3, 4).
Annie E. Pace (1870−1955), her four daughters, and Cisco School teacher Dorothy Miller (1908−2003) reside in Pace's home(6) probably behind the Mercantile. Annie is the wife of Pace brothers Co. co-founder John Ezra Pace (1867−1957).

Postmaster Henry Hansen (1860−1932) and his wife reside in his own home/post office(7) next to the mercantile.

Boarding house proprietor Virginia Gruver (1898−1978), her two sons, her two daughters, and a cattle laborer as a boarder reside in the boarding house(19) behind the post office.

Deputy sheriff Owen Maddox Malin (1908−1984), his wife, his daughter, and a boarder, electrician Louis Elsa Cato (1889−1972), his wife, and his two daughters, and farm laborer Herbert Elwin Johnston (1902−1994), his wife, and his daughter reside in each rented home(8, 11, 15) within Cisco townsite.


Sheep shearing plant proprietor Joseph Maria Ocamica Barainca (1893−1980), his wife, his son, two boarders who are ranch laborers, and a servant reside in Ocamica's home(16) probably located at the north of railroad tracks: the plant was located at the north of the tracks.
Hotel proprietor Pia Gandarillas (1890−?), her daughter, cook, and two boarders who are miners reside in the hotel(17) probably located north of the tracks.
Oil well laborer Frank Parker Moore (1901−1954) resides in a rented home(18) probably located north of the tracks: his late father was a coal passer.


Along the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad tracks facing the townsite, several facilities are occupied by the railroad workers and their families.
Railroad agent Harold Ethelbert Wiggle (1900−1941), his wife, his son, and his daughter occupy the depot(1).
Telegrapher Arline Chonita Church (1888−1973) occupies the operator’s bungalow(2).
Section foreman Jesus Rodriguez (1899−?), his wife, his son, his step-son, his two step-daughters, and two boarders who are also section hands occupy the section house(13).
Section hand Nicholas M. Chavez (1894−1974), his wife, five daughters, and his son, section hand Rafael L. Pando (1897−?), his wife, two sons, and four boarders who are also section hands occupy each bunk houses(10, 20). Section hand Manuel D. Vigil (1881−1951), his wife, his three daughters, and a boarder who is also a section hand reside in a rented home(12) behind the later Duke’s Service facilities.


Amid the Great Depression and Prohibition, Cisco boasted a population of nearly two hundred thanks to the gas well operation. The town got the gas line in 1923. The new post office was also erected in 1923. The railroad’s water supply system was renovated and the tank at the town changed from wood to steel in 1928. Cisco was still in action.

For more, historian Mike Milligan describes the history of Westwater into the 30s in the 2004 magazine Vol. 51 of Canyon Legacy. The 1937 UtahStateGS aerial photo also shows how downtown Cisco was in the 30s.

: 1937 UtahStateGS aerial photo